Labour leadership 2015: How much campaign money Jeremy Corbyn, Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall raised and where from

I am a reporter at City A.M. looking at the stories, people and data behind political events from the UK, Europe and further afield. I also write about infrastructure and transport, as well as broader issues around global business.

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James Nickerson

Voting has closed and the result will be announced on Saturday (Source: Getty)

To run a successful political campaign you need a lot of things: perseverance, staff, a coherent message. But you also need money.

Jeremy Corbyn is now extremely likely to be crowned as Labour leader on Saturday, with polls and bookmakers alike putting him streets ahead.

But the veteran Islington North MP actually had the fewest donations over £500 of all candidates, according to data logged on the register of MPs declared interests.

The below chart shows the number of donations each candidate received. As you can see Andy Burnham secured the most donations in total, receiving 41 in total. Yvette Cooper came second, followed by Liz Kendall.

Candidates also received more than one donation from the same person. The below shows how many donors each candidate had.

The below chart shows the aggregate raised, up to 7 September, including direct donations, costs for office space, legal services and the secondment of staff. While Burnham had the most individual donations, as you can see, it was Cooper who won the most cash overall.

Interestingly - and unsurprisingly - all of Corbyn's large (over £500) donations came from unions - including the RMT, Aslef, Unite and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association.

The below shows how much each candidate raised in direct donations and in payment for offices, rent and upkeep during the election campaign.

Burnham also had £24,915 worth of legal fees donated to his campaign, while one happy donor spent £2,000 on a fundraising dinner for Cooper. Meanwhile, Corbyn was given £10,762.42 in value for the secondment of staff to his leadership campaign.

The two largest donors gave their money to Cooper. Peter Hearn, who founded recruitment company PSD Group, gave £75,000, while Ken and Barbara Follett donated £100,000 to her campaign.

Unite was the third largest donor, pouring in £62,762.42 to help Corbyn fight his corner.

Burnham’s largest donor was Sir David Garrard, a property developer who has previously donated to the Labour party, who gave the shadow health secretary £25,000 in his bid to lead Labour.

And among Kendall’s admirers are Dave Rowntree – the former Blur drummer – who gave her £5,000, and Greek entrepreneur Stelio Stefanou who gave her £50,000.

Of course candidates also raised money from donors who gave less £500 through their campaign websites. On this basis Corbyn raised a sizeable £207,587.

Other candidates' campaigns all raised money in the same fashion, but Cooper and Kendall's teams did not reply to our requests, while Burnham's team told us they had the data but could not give it to us.